K4, one of the submarines sunk in the Isle of May debacle. Photograph: The Royal Navy Submarine Museum
There was no actual battle at the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth off Scotland. Nevertheless, on the night of January 31st and the morning of February 1st, 1918, 270 sailors of the Royal Navy lost their lives off the Isle of May in five collisions between eight different vessels. Two submarines sank and three more subs and a destroyer escort were damaged. No enemy vessels were involved. The ships involved in the collisions were among 40 naval vessels which left Rosyth, Scotland for exercises in the North Sea. The accidents were kept secret and many of the details of the incident were not revealed until the 1990s. A memorial cairn was finally erected 84 years later, in 2002 at Anstruther harbor opposite the Isle of May.
Now the site of the accidents is being surveyed by divers to ensure that a planned offshore wind farm does not disturb the wreckage.
Divers survey Scottish graveyard of first world war submarine disaster
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Almost exactly a year ago, we posted about the “
The Battleship 
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